China

By: Sarah Taylor, Rebecca Payne, Alex Karp, Zach Dehart, Pierce Taylor

Historical Background Sarah Taylor

• The last dynasty and Beijing was the capital.• During the 19th century, Qing control weakened, and

affluence diminished. China suffered massive social discord, economic stagnation, explosive population growth, and Western penetration and influence.

• The Taiping and Nian rebellions were the start of the Qing dynasty weakening (almost toppled the dynasty).

• First Opium war erupted in 1840, China lost.• A revolutionary military uprising on October 10, 1911,

led to the resignation of the last Qing monarch.

Historical Background cont’d. Sarah Taylor

• 1920s: Sun Yat-sen established a base in South China to reunite the fragmented nation.

-Kuomintang (KMT or "Chinese Nationalist People's Party“)

• During the "Long March," the communists reorganized under a new leader, Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung).

• 14-year long Japanese Invasion (1931-1945)• 1949: CCP occupies most of China

Historical Background cont’d. Sarah Taylor

• October 1, 1949: Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People’s republic of China (P.R.C)

• 1958: “The Great Leap Forward” to break the soviet control.

• 1960-1961: combination of poor planning and horrible weather conditions resulted in one of the deadliest famines of history

• 1959: Sino-Soviet deteriorates http://newspaper.li/static/9fd1ae5b69a2db0abf64bf4ecab235dd.jpeg

Historical Background cont’d.Sarah Taylor

• Spring of 1966: Party Chairman Mao launched a massive political attack on Liu, Deng, and other pragmatists

• 1989: Student Movement and Tiananmen Square

• 18th party congress is told to meet in the fall of 2012.

Geography Sarah Taylor

• Total area: 9,596,961 sq. km. (about 3.7 million sq. mi.).

• Cities: Capital--Beijing. Other major cities--Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Harbin, Chengdu, and Dalian.

• Terrain: Plains, deltas, and hills in east; mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west.

• Climate: Tropical in south to subarctic in north.

http://www.theodora.com/maps/new2/china3.jpg

Economic Conditions Sarah Taylor

• 2011: Economy grew by only 9.2%, down from 10.3% growth in 2010. -Grew 9-9.5% in 2011-2012, down from 10.5% from 2000-2007

because of a combination of weak international demand for “made in china” goods and domestic policies

• 2011: Central Government planned to slow growth to 7% • Free market economy• 2011: Share of consumption in China’s GDP rose, after 10 years in a row• December 2011: housing boom slowed, price for new homes fell in 52/70

cities.• Foreign-exchange reserves fell in 4th quarter for first time since the Asian

Financial Crisis in 1998• Developers: finding it impossible to get loans• Homeowners: struggling to obtain mortgages• About 6.5 Yuan to one U.S. dollar

http://epapermanager.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/680c57288f91817f4918dffc05e062e0.jpg

Social Conditions Sarah Taylor

• 2011: unemployment rate of 4.1%-Averaged 4.15% from 2002-2010-Never got higher than 4.3% or less than 3.9%

• Standard of living for majority of population is very low.

• Chinese cities are some of the most expensive in the world to live in.

http://beyondbounds.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/poor-china-living-space2.jpg

http://www.fukubonsai.com/images3/2b.htm1.jpg http://econintersect.com/wordpress/wp-con

tent/uploads/2011/10/Chinese-home-design-1.jpg

Ethnic Groups Rebecca

• Made up of 56 nationalities; Han is the majority nationality

• Developed from the ideas of Han and the Marxist ideas of progress.

Gladney, Dru. “China’s Ethnic Tinderbox.” http://news.bbc.co.uk. http://news.bbc.uk/2/8141867.stm (accessed March 1, 2012)

Caste Systems Rebecca

• China is the most populated country in the world

• It is ruled by a single political party, the Communist Party

• The 4 small stars on the country’s flag stand for the social classes; peasants, workers, petty bourgeoisie, and patriotic capitalists

• These classes make up 8 democratic parties.

Religious Groups Rebecca

• Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism are the main religions in China.

• The government supports religion in hopes it will unite the people to actively participate in the construction of the country.

• All religions have equal status and peacefully cooperate.

• In 1949, the policy of freedom of religious belief was created.

Chinese culture. (1997, October). Retrieved from http://chineseculture.about.com/library/china/whitepaper/blsreligion.htm

Ideologies Rebecca

• Chinese Communist Party• CPC represent the advancement of social productive forces,

the advancement of culture, and the interests of the overwhelming majority

• Under the CCP, there are 8 small parties:– Revolutionary Committee of the Kuomintang– China Democratic League– China Democratic National Construction Association– Chinese Peasants’ and Workers’ Democratic Party– Zhigongdang of China– Jiusan Society– Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League

How are rulers chosen? Alex

• The Communist Parties elect the President and vice-President at the national level. The National People’s Congress the body that chooses those leaders. The state and local level leaders are still chosen by the Communist party. Also, no candidates can get on the ballot without the support of the Communist party. The national government elections are set up in the classic parliamentary election style. The people choose their representative who then chooses the national leaders. Also, only the communist party is recognized at the national level and thus all representatives have been endorsed by the communist party.Wikipedia (n.d.). Government of the People's Republic of China. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 24, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China

Political Parties & Interest Groups Alex

• The only official party that exists in China is the Chinese Communist party and its satellites. The other parties are not officially recognized and thus do not appear on the election ballots. Thus all elections are directly supervised by the communist party, which in turn, maintains its power over all aspects of the election.Wikipedia (n.d.). Elections in the People's Republic of China. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 24, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China

How Individual Citizens Participate in Politics? Alex

• The local people can vote for any candidate they want to be elected however at any election above the local level the candidates must be approved by the communist party. Therefore, an individual can vote for any party he or she wants to, if they want to participate in the state level they must hold communist party membership.Wikipedia (n.d.). Elections in the People's Republic of China. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 24, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China

The Main Institutions Zach

• The State Council• The National Peoples Congress• The Peoples Liberation Army

• Combined Military Strength of China

• The Supreme Courts• The Standing Committee of the NPC

Exercise of Power Zach

• Military Action– Crushing Revolts• Tiananmen Square

• Censorship– (Internet Regulations, Media Restriction)

• Restrictions:– Placed on Childbirth, Immigration, and Trade

Relationships Between Institutions Zach

• Multiple Office Holding – Usually high ranking officials• Ex: Hu Jin-Tao as head of Party, State, and Military.

• Bargaining• Coordination and discussion between Bureaucratic

Units over benefits. This was brought about because of reform era policies and of State inability to order the bureaucracies to cooperate. (Martin, 2010)

Limits on Political Institutions Zach

• The State Council– Within the limits of its power and functions, it has

the power to adopt necessary administrative measures and regulations, and issue orders. ("China today," 2011)

• National Peoples Congress• Meets 15 days every year to discuss policy and elect

officials• Little Political Influence

Functions Performed by Political Institutions Pierce

• Two vertically integrated but interlocking institutions– Chinese communist party

» Headed by party politburo and its standing committee» Nominal Leader of the CCP is the general secretary, but control of the party is

held collectively by its standing committee.– state government apparatus headed by the premier, who presides over state council

• two other key institutions– national peoples Congress

» NPC is the highest national organ.» In its 60 years, history has shown that they are subordinate to the state council

and to the party standing committee– People Liberation Army

» Although it is believing that the PLA has authority, Partied controlled Central Military Committee has authority of the PLA, and the CMC has full command

» The mix between political power between the party and government, can make it difficult and complex propositions to determine who has authority to set and/or implement specific power.dominance of economic player

» administrative processes and diffused power.

Establishment of Internal Order Pierce

• The functions of the Speaker in china is to supervise and preside over staff during sessions within the chamber.

External Security Pierce

• The military in china is the main protection for external security. Chinas Peoples Liberation Army is the main large military.

• The PLA is the worlds largest military with 3 million military members

• The PLA presides under the Central Military Commission.

Resolving Conflicts between Groups Pierce

• When solving disputes between groups, they tend to use three methods– Negotiation- in fact most contracts between

companies and people have room for negotion.– Arbitration-– Litigation-

Raising Money for Services Alex

• Taxation forms the backbone of all revenue for the Chinese government. However, a small portion also comes from import duties and other government services.

• Income taxes and business taxes represent a large majority of the money that is generated through all kinds of taxes.Wikipedia (n.d.). Taxation in the People's Republic of China. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 25, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_system_in_China

Government Services Rebecca

• Ministry of Civil Affairs• Ministry of Commerce• Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China• Ministry of Labor and Social Security• Ministry of Public Security• National Bureau of Statistics of China• State Administration of Cultural Heritage of the People’s

Republic of ChinaChina: Government offices & political leadership. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://bulldog2.redlands.edu/dept/AsianStudiesDept/china-gov.html

Regulating Citizens’ Behavior Sarah Taylor

• http://youtu.be/IkY9K3emAa8 • http://youtu.be/IkY9K3emAa8 • Strong police force• Citizens outnumber police force• Communist country: almost everything is

regulated (starting to move away from this)

Works CitedChinese culture. (1997, October). Retrieved from

http://chineseculture.about.com/library/china/whitepaper/blsreligion.htm Gladney, Dru. “China’s Ethnic Tinderbox.” http://news.bbc.co.uk. http://news.bbc.uk/2/8141867.stm (accessed

March 1, 2012)Martin, M. F. (2010, April 14).

www.fas.orgChina today. (2011).

www.chinatoday.com/cnBackground note: China. (September 6, 2011). http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/18902.htm#econ

China’s economic conditons.(January 12, 2006). http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/IB98014.pdf

Youtube. Chinese Authorities Lose Control as Village Revolts. December 15, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkY9K3emAa8&feature=youtu.be&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

Youtube. Proposed Secret Detention Law Angers Chinese Lawyers and Activists. September 1, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3djqKbZrtM&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

Wikipedia (n.d.). Taxation in the People's Republic of China. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 25, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_system_in_China